Back to School Sensory Table

Since my girls start up preschool this Friday, found it only necessary to create a back to school sensory experience.

Materials Included:

shredded notebook paper

giant colorful paper clips (practice hooking them together)

crayons

markers

little food erasers

pencil

ruler

scissors (so she could cut more paper if she wanted)

magnetic letters

notepad to use her crayons and markers on

pieces to a alphabet game

I set the rest of the alphabet game up by the table so Big K could choose to play all of it if she wanted.  I also stuck up a writing mat that she could practice tracing letters on with her pencil.

I don't know what it is about shredded paper but this girl loves it!

Look at that determination at trying to hook those things together

Success!

"Look, now it's a train Mommy!"

"And now let's try to take them back apart."

Little K is now awake from nap and comes to join in the fun too.  She's always adding things to our sensory table. =)

And Big K can't help but put it all in her hair

but she doesn't mind! "Cheese!"

Big K really enjoyed her new game of matching the upper and lowercase ladybugs and seeing what picture they would make on the back.

Little K pretending like she knows what she's doing.

"I'm taking notes for the new school year." she says.

Jello Sensory Experience

Ok, I have to admit in advance, I went a little crazy with the picture taking in this one.  But I just couldn't help it.  They were so darn funny!  

I mixed up 3 batches of jello and placed some shapes in (to reinforce shape recognition with Little K).  Once it was set, we plopped it in our sensory table and I just let the girls have at it however they liked.  

We talked about all the words we could to describe the way it felt.  Cold, smooth, slimy...

But it sure didn't take long for this little one to realize it was edible.

Then they both went after it!

Squishy!

 And would not stop eating it!!!

They were even slurping it out of the shapes! haha

Never do I ever choose to take an activity away but this time it eventually became necessary.  They would have eaten those entire three batches of jello and had some serious tummy aches!  I just let them have their fill and get all messy, then jump in their pool!

Olympic Crafts

It's so fun to see Big K get into her first summer Olympics of her lifetime.  Her favorite is by far gymnastics, although Mommy may have a big influence on that factor considering I used to be a gymnast myself.  NOTHING to that degree so it still fascinates me! That and she's also really into the trampoline gals (she likes to give us performances on her bed.)  So because she really has enjoyed watching them so much with us, we decided to make a few Olympic crafts. (We really get into our crafts, paint smeared all over our face and everything!)

Some simple gold and silver medals (we didn't make bronze since I didn't have that color so we mainly focused on what the colors were for 1st and 2nd place).  And we made some Olympic rings using our paints and toilet paper rolls.  Mine obviously is on the right for her illustration and hers is on the left. =) So that's it.  Really simple. I've been too tired to do any elaborate arts or crafts lately.   

Alphabet Fun

We've started doing letter themed weeks here in our household lately.  Basically we pick a random letter from the alphabet and do things that go along with it all week.  We talk about there sounds, practice writing them, read books that have a common theme with that letter, etc.  My favorite thing we've been doing is making a letter craft into something that starts with that letter and also going on our letter scavenger hunts.  

We started with the letter B as that tends to be a fairly easy one for little ones to nail down.  AND there are so many things in our world that start with the letter B if you think about it.  Especially baby world with a baby sister around!  Here is our bee "B" and items we found during our "B" scavenger hunt

Frog "F"

Pig "P"

Some of my letter ideas were inspired by a post I found on Pinterest while many of them I am coming up with on my own.  Some day, months down the road, once we have gone through the entire alphabet, I will try to share with you our entire collection of letters!  But get creative and try to come up with different ones on your own.  It really is fun and Big K and I both have enjoyed making them! Thanks for stopping by! 

Ice Cube Painting

Add a little different sensory experience to your child's painting one day.  Squeeze some of your washable paints into ice cubes trays, freeze them, then let them paint away with them.  They will enjoy feeling the cold texture.  And they WILL get messy! It was a good way for Big K to manipulate a different shape in her hands for writing too.  Little K just liked to watch them melt on her paper.